


Just A Little Noir

by DaydreamersMedicine



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Ancient af Kinkmeme request, F/M, Fluff, No Player Character, noir, pre-game, really old repost
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-29 12:25:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19019890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaydreamersMedicine/pseuds/DaydreamersMedicine
Summary: Piper Wright and Nick Valentine, a dame in red and a hard-boiled detective. Two great tastes that taste great together. Only catch? It’s the end of the world, Nick’s a robot, and they can't spit it out.





	Just A Little Noir

**Author's Note:**

> Another Very Old Fic that's getting posted on AO3 for the first time ever. Was a kinkmeme request from like 4 years ago and has been living on my hard drive.

"So, you're new." He looked up at the woman who entered his office. The first color to hit his sensors was red, the red leather trench coat was hard to miss. His gaze trailed up the jacket to a pair of hazel eyes glittering in the dim light of his office as the young woman stepped forward. From what his sensors told him she smelled like leather and cheap cigarettes, but who could tell if it was her own habit or the habit of everyone else in the city that had rubbed off on her? Sometimes he wondered if newer models of synth experienced anything closer to life than a bunch of sensor readings and explanations ticking away in their heads. Her presence demanded his attention, so he didn't muse on this long. "So, you're the Synth Detective, huh?" A confident smirk lit her face. It suddenly clicked in his head who this woman was. He'd heard of her, of course. It was hard not to in Diamond City.   
            "Miss Wright, I presume?" Her hazel eyes, tinged with green he noticed now that she was closer, narrowed, but the amused smirk remained.   
            "How'd you figure?"  
            "Everyone else is too afraid of me to come here. From what I hear nothing stops you from getting an interview with every person of note in the city." She nearly laughed, but held back for the moment.   
            "So, you listen to the gossip around town. That's a start." She leaned against his desk. "My reputation seems to have preceded me, but I'll introduce myself anyway. I'm Piper Wright, Publik Occurrences." He shook her offered hand. "You know what I'm here for, and I'm gonna get it, one way or another." She sat down in front of him. She was direct about what she wanted, he'd give her that. That was better than beating around the bush in his opinion though, so it suited him just fine. "So, Nick Valentine. Let's chat for a bit, and I'll see if I can't help both our businesses by writing up a nice interesting interview. What do you say?" He glanced over at the the torn and tattered waiting chairs, all empty, just like his case file.  
            "I don't think I have much of a choice at the moment." He leaned back. "So, Miss Wright, what do you want to know?"   
  
\-------------------------------------------------  
  
            The door opened, and before he looked up he could hear an already-familiar voice. "Hear anything interesting?" It had been a slow day, but a few curious visitors had stopped by after the interview was published. He hadn't really expected to find Piper Wright around again after that. He was still used to people outright ignoring him or glaring at him in passing more than anything. But here she was again, in his dim little office at the edge of Diamond City, her long red trench coat continuously getting more and more frayed as the days and weeks passed, dark hair tucked under the press cap she always wore.   
            "Interesting?" He asked. She rubbed the back of her neck, a sheepish expression on her face.   
            "Yeah...not much is coming up lately. Nothing scandalous enough to sell papers anyway." He smiled a little.   
            "So you came to me."  
            "I figured you hear things as much as I do. Any tips you can chase down for me right now?"   
            "Maybe." He humored her and started digging through paperwork, letters, notes, reminders. He frowned at a piece of paper near the bottom of the stack. "Let's see here..." He scanned it over quickly, recalling the incident he'd planned to investigate and why it was put on hold.   
            "What do you got?" She craned her head around, trying to see the note.   
            "Well, if you want to bring a gun along with your notepad this could work out for both of us." He showed her the note.   
            "There's been a kidnapping at farm run by ghouls?" Her eyes lit up in curiosity, a look he was about to get to know really well.   
            "It's an awful long hike, alone the trip is dangerous, but..."  
            "Say no more! I'm in!" She turned and trapped the doorknob. "I'll tell Nat I'm leaving and get my stuff. See you at Diamond City gates in half an hour!" He was left standing in the whirlwind she left behind. Something told him he was about to get way more than he bargained for in Piper Wright, Diamond City's most notorious reporter. 

\------------------------

            It hadn't taken too many excursions out into the wasteland with Piper Wright by his side to figure out why she kept coming back to him. It wasn't just for the stories, or the adventures. It was because they had a hell of a lot more in common than an appreciation for long coats, old handguns, and trouble.

            The city seemed to eternally hold the both of them in suspicion, and she was lonely whenever her sister was out at a friend's house or at school. He'd eventually hired a secretary, but he still found himself sitting at the bar next to the dame in the red coat. If there was a story to write or a mystery to solve, people came to either one of them, because it would inevitably wind up written and solved by the unlikely pair.

            She had admitted to him, after a long night and one too many shots of whisky that she was certain the only people who would care if anything happened to her were her sister Nat, and Nick.

            The feeling was mutual, though he didn't say as much at the time. The city knew both of them were useful, but being useful didn't automatically mean friends, or respect for that matter. He was a Synth, and in the eyes of the people, he would always be a Synth. Maybe a friendlier one than most, but he would never be one of them.

            It surprised him a little to realize Piper was in a similar situation as an outsider, as the lone journalist of the commonwealth wasteland. She would always be a little distant for everyone else, no matter how hard she tried to be otherwise. Something in them both marked them differently, but when trouble came it was good to have someone else there to catch you. She's saved his neck from raiders and scrapers plenty of times, usually with a well-timed bullet or roll of duct-tape after the fact. He never needed to rest, so when she needed a break he was naturally the lookout.

            Despite all the stuff he'd seen go down, the wasteland had moments where it could be extremely peaceful late at night, just before dawn broke. His sensors told him that he could smell the chunks of mole rat cooking over the fire, mixed with the scent of wood, smoke, and metal. He could see the glittering stars high above, and hear the occasional rustle of animals in the brush. He glanced down at Piper fast asleep on an old mattress they had found. Most days he didn't know what to think of their relationship. Were they friends? Partners? A habit? He turned his attention back to watching the night, it didn't matter. All that mattered was they had each other.

\------------------------------------

            She woke with the dawn this morning, a little bit restless. She hadn't been jerked awake by a dream or a noise like usual so Piper just laid on the mat and let her senses come back one by one until she opened her eyes. Without moving she looked at Nick Valentine. Synth or not he was a good man. The wind blew his jacket like a tattered cape. Against the rising sun his profile looked good, it made her nearly wish she could capture the moment with a painting or photograph instead of simple words that would be jotted down in a journal later. But that wasn't her talent, sadly. At least she could have the words to describe the way the sky changed colors in streaks as dawn broke over the horizon and ignited golden rays down into the shelter they had chosen for the night. She sat up and stretched, groaning loudly enough to tell Nick she was awake.

            "Time to get moving again?" The synth turned his head toward her, his eyes glowing softly in the morning light.

            "Do you want breakfast first? I cooked that mirelurk you shot last night." Her stomach growled, and she happily took Nick up on that offer. For someone who didn't need to eat or sleep he was always very courteous to her needs, and not a bad cook, considering their sparse ingredients while traveling.

            Life in the wasteland wasn't often peaceful or happy, but sometimes you get lucky.

\------------------------------------

            "Nick!" He turned fast, startled by a voice that was not his usual visitor. Standing in the doorway was little Natalie "Nat" Wright. Piper's little sister. The motors in his head started spinning faster. Something was wrong. "Nick! It's Piper!" She ran up and tugged on the sleeve of his coat. "She's gone, which isn't that unusual, but she's been gone longer than a day and she didn't leave a note beforehand. If she's gone longer than a day, she always leaves a note and tells me where she's off to, and she's usually with you." He frowned.

            "Do you know where she might have gone?" He started off with his usual round of questions for a missing person, trying not to let his head spin. He had emotions, and felt as much as any person, but he couldn't let them get in the way of doing his job. "Did she say anything, do anything unusual before she left?" Nat shook her head, wide-eyed. "When was the last time you saw her?"

            "Day before yesterday, before I left for school. She just said she heard something interesting nearby and would be back soon. I thought she'd be back later that night, but she wasn't and she's still not back!"

            "Well then, she's probably not halfway across the wasteland if it was a quick trip..." Nat looked very seriously at him and nodded. He had gained the trust of the Wright sisters long ago, but he understood the worry burning behind Nat's eyes. Sometimes she looked years older than she was, and sometimes he remembered how young and alone she and Piper were in the wasteland. "Is there anything else you can tell me?"

            "Nothing you don't already know about Sis." She said quietly. "She wrote a nasty article about some gang that's been stealing from supply shipments recently, and we Wrights make enemies quick."

            "I'll find her, Nat." He put his hat on. "I promise."

\----------------------------------

            So, it hadn't exactly been a _good_ lead. Piper groaned inwardly at herself and squirmed in the bindings.

            "Not so tough now, huh? You little snoop." She scoffed lightly, despite her situation. She'd been in worse, after all.

            "Pfft. Don't blame me, buddy. All I did was tell the truth about your little 'operation' here." Sarcasm was a great cover for any fear or nerves that had started to turn in her stomach.

            "Yeah, but you can't resist a good story, can you little mouse?" One of the men touched her cheek. "It was senselessly easy to lure you out. Big mistake."

            "Yeah, well, _congratulations!_ What are you going to do next? The world wants to know." She gave the raiders a bored expression.

            "What we're going to do is make sure a certain reporter learns not to stick her nose into our business ever again."

            "Oh boy, I haven't heard that one before." As she talked she squirmed in her bindings, trying to feel out any weak spot in the knots or the rope itself that she could use. Damn, this group knew what they were doing. But she's talked her way out of worse... At the very least distracting them from deciding on what to do with her seemed to be working. "You know, you guys have been so nice to me I think I've changed my mind about your operation. How about you let me go and I'll write a glowing review? The world should know about this hospitality!"

            "Will someone shut her up?" One of the men groaned.

            "Look, girl, we're still deciding if it's going to be profitable to ransom you after we've taught you some manners. If it's not, we'll just shut you up permanently. With a bullet. So shut up."

 _"Manners?"_ She gasped in mock horror. Her guard's head sunk into his hands as he prepared for her to continue her onslaught of sarcasm against them. Being smacked with the butt of a rifle and waking up tied to a chair surrounded by raiders would have most girls quaking in their boots, but no, she was the one tormenting them while they waited for orders on what to do with their mouthy prisoner.

            Annoying the hell out of them was the best she could do, until she found a way out of these bindings. Things weren't going so great on that front at the moment though.

            She tried to count the number of people she might have pissed off to deserve this to pass the time, but the number was already too high. Piper signed, as more time passed and nothing happened. It had been a tense situation about an hour ago but, silly as it seemed, she was getting awful bored being a hostage. Her guards weren't even responding to her taunts anymore, bored as her waiting for orders. This whole ordeal must have been a lot of trouble to someone.

            She hoped to meet them. See how they liked getting smacked with a gun.

            “Boss finally came back with orders, and a gift.” The man held up a roll of duct tape.

            “Seriously?” Piper said before one of the men guarding her slapped the tape over her mouth. She scowled, now there was nothing to pass the time. These men would definitely pay.

\-------------------------------------------------------------

            Nick had found her, thank God. He'd recognize that red trench coat a mile away, the fact that it wasn't accompanied by Piper's voice loudly complaining about the situation did make him a bit worried though. He stood in the shadows and surveyed the scene. A dark bruise was forming on Piper's cheek and she was glaring daggers at the gang of raiders, the reason for her lack of verbal protests was that the raiders had duct-taped her mouth shut. Even from here he could tell by the way her shoulders slumped, she was tired and they had certainly given her a hard time.

            He readied his pistol, and crouched silently. One of the raiders was walking toward him, Nick stayed hidden and waited for his chance. A frontal attack with just him would be fatally stupid, but he could probably thin their numbers before running to Piper. The raider turned the corner and Nick shoved the pistol into his unarmored stomach and pulled the trigger. The muffling made the gunshot almost a whisper and the raider fell to the floor, blood pooling around the body. Nick went back to looking for chances to take out Raiders when one of them started to taunt Piper.

            "Boss came back. Apparently Miss Piper Wright doesn't _have_ any friends we can ransom her to. Makes our job that much easier." Piper gave a muffled protest behind the duct tape and started squirming frantically as the raider lowered a gun at her head. Damn, change of plans. He was going in with a frontal attack after all. Piper managed to knock her own chair over, a second before the gunshot went off. Nick forgot for a second he didn't have a beating heart to nearly stop when the shot rang out. Piper was unhurt, aside from hitting the floor, the bullet embedded in the wood behind her head.

            He leapt from his hiding spot while the raiders were watching the attempted execution, a shot to the back of the head took down one more. Then he caught the other with a shot to the leg, followed by the torso.

            "What the hell?!" The raider who had just tried to shoot Piper spun around.

            "Your boss's information was wrong." He fired.

\----

            Nick ran over to Piper and got the duct tape off, then started working on her bindings. He freed her hands and started helping her up. She had rubbed a sore red mark down into her wrists from pulling at the ropes earlier and rubbed at the marks, trying to ease the soreness. She took Nick's hand, and almost wanted to press her sore wrist against the cool metal for a second before remembering herself.

            "Ow. About time you showed up." She hissed as she put weight on her left leg. Stupid raiders and their stupid baseball bats.

            "I apologize, it was rude to make a lady wait. Here." He found the stimpacks he had the foresight to bring along and offered one to her while kneeling to inject her leg with the medicine.

            "You know damn well it is! Ah.." Nick injected the stimpak, and after a few seconds Piper sighed in relief as the medicine started to work on the injuries. "Nick, I could kiss you." She nearly slapped a hand over her own mouth but Nick didn't bat an eye, taking it as her usual banter.

            "I'm flattered, but I should warn you that you're going to have an awful hard time trying to make me blush." He picked up her press cap and dusted it off before offering it to her. She smiled, her own cheeks turning slightly pink, and replaced the old hat, another thing aside from trench coats and mischief they both seemed to enjoy.

            "Smartass synth." Her relived smile faded. "But more seriously, how did you find me? And in time too?"

            "Nat was worried when you weren't home for dinner. I hoped it was the troublemakers you shut down most recently who had come after you."

            "Good guess." She gave a slightly hysterical laugh. "That was too close." She muttered. "If you hadn't come along...well..." She looked disturbed for a moment.

            "Don't let what they said get to you. They were a stupid group of thieves if they couldn't figure out a very pissed off synth would come for them if they hurt you." Piper hoped she wasn't imagining the almost protective note in his voice. Nick Valentine had a heart under that metal it seemed, but she had known that for a long time already. He frowned and looked at the bruise under her eye.

            "They roughed me up a bit." She admitted. "But it seems my knight in shining armor came to my rescue once more." Piper smiled at Nick. The synth looked momentarily confused.

            "...Knight?"

            "Oh, you know like in stories..." Nick continued to give her a slightly blank look. "...Come on, you're killing the mood!" If he had eyebrows he would raise one, but even still he conveyed a skeptical expression very well. "Look this isn't the first time you've saved my skin...and I just wanted to say..." She was a reporter for a living yet words always failed her when she was excited or flustered. "Uh, thanks, Nick." _Smooth_.

            "You've done the same for me plenty of times, right? Partner."

            "Heh. Yeah, partners." He turned and started walking through the open door into the harsh sunlight. As she followed him back to Diamond City Piper had a realization. _Oh shit, I have a crush on a metal man with a noir fetish._ But, there are far worse fates in the wasteland.

\---------------------------------------------------

            Nick found himself thinking of his old fiancée, well, _Nick’s_ old fiancée, the human Nick he got his memories from. He thought of her sometimes, so this wasn’t unusual, he had daydreams of the past more often than not, robbed of the real deal at night due to his robotic body. He could go into a sleep-like mode, but the human side of his mind told him it wasn’t anything like real sleep.

            The ancient pre-war memories mingled with more current events in his mind as he reclined in his chair, deep in thought. Especially as his thoughts started to circle around one particular reporter in red. His brain kept going over the near-miss at the warehouse, the shot ringing out and her hitting the floor. He shouldn’t have even let the situation get that far in the first place. And then he thought of her, giddy and blushing and excited from the rescue. _Nick, I could kiss you!_ He buried his head in his hands. He was an outdated synth, falling apart at the seams, and she was Diamond City’s troublemaker. There’s no way she’d feel anything for him, they were just friends, partners. Still his feet found him wandering through the streets of Diamond City and knocking on her office door.

            “Nick!” Nat opened the door and immediately hugged him. “Thanks for brining my sis back.”

            “It was my pleasure.” He lifted his hat and smiled.

            “Yeah, she gets in way over her head sometimes.” Nat sighed. He chuckled.

            “Believe me, I know.”

            “Talking about me behind my back?” Piper appeared in the doorway. “Come on in, Nick. Now I’ve got to interrogate you.” Her eyes were shining with her usual playful energy. He followed her into the office/apartment that she and her sister lived in. “So, what brings you to my side of town for a change?”

            “Just checking in to see that you and Nat are okay.” It sounded like an excuse even to him.

            “Is that all? We’re fine, you know we Wrights can take care of ourselves… but you know, it’s nice that you’re looking out for us too. I really appreciate it.” She smiled warmly at him. “You know…-“

            “—Sis! I’m going to school now!” Nat called.

            “Okay! Have a good day!”

            “Bye, Nick!” She waved.

            “Goodbye, Nat.” He called back. She closed the door and left. Piper’s cheeks had just turned pink again.

            “What’s wrong?”

            “Huh?! N-nothing! Just, uh, I lost my train of thought after being interrupted is all.” He knows he didn’t imagine her voice pitching higher this time. She took a breath and calmed herself for a moment. “It’s just… I don’t really have any friends, and it’s nice to know that I can count on you, both to watch my back and keep an eye out for Nat should anything ever happen to me.” She laughed. “Nat really trusts you too, you know. Maybe more than she trusts me, but that was a good thing yesterday so I can’t really complain.” Nick felt his head replay that scene again, and shivered slightly.

            “Yesterday…I shouldn’t have even let the situation get that far, I should have been faster tracking you down, faster on the draw, anything…” Piper looked worried.

            “Nick, what’s wrong? It’s not like you to beat yourself up over a near-miss. I’m fine.”

            “If you hadn’t kicked your own chair over, you would be…” His hand balled into a fist. “I nearly failed you, I nearly….lost you.”

            “But you didn’t, Nick, I’m here, alive and well and not riddled with bullets, thanks to _you_. If you hadn’t been there I wouldn’t have been able to avoid a second shot.” She put a hand on his cheek to bring his attention back to her. Nick felt like if he had a physical heart it would be torn to pieces in a moment. She was sitting so close to him, her hazel-green eyes opened wide in worry, her expression open, concerned, for _him_. Him, of all things, an old synth detective. He couldn’t even think of a proper response, and then she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, effectively ensuring he was incapable of formulating a proper response to the situation. His lack of blood circulation allowed him to keep a relative poker face. Piper pulled back and her face, on the other hand, was scarlet, blushing like a schoolgirl. She stood up awkwardly. “S-so I’ll just…um…I…”

            “Piper.” He gently grabbed her arm as she started to turn away. “I’ve been worried sick, because I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

            “…Wouldn’t you just go on being a detective?” She had a point, he smiled dryly.

            “There goes my romantic line, didn’t you scold me yesterday for doing that?” He said dryly. She cracked a smile and started laughing really hard. He couldn’t help himself and started joining in with her infectious laughing.

            “So, does this mean what I think it means?”

            “We’re a pre-war cliché that just won’t die.”

            “I guess so, if the pre-war comics I’ve dug up are any indication.”

            “A dame in red, and a hard-boiled detective.”

            “Mm, let me guess, two great tastes that taste great together? No, no wait I’ve got it: He’s the hardboiled synth detective with pre-war memories, she’s a loudmouthed reporter with a penchant for trouble. Together they fight crime!”

            “Best headline I’ve heard all day.” He kissed her.


End file.
